by Jeff Carson
He stared out the window with an unblinking gaze. In his mind he was there the night of John’s death, seeing exactly how he was killed, then the next he wasn’t so sure. What really happened? Was it conceivable John killed himself? Had he given up on life? He waits to become a mega successful blogger and author, only to end it all after snorting a bit of cocaine?
What if he actually had given up on life? Maybe his apparent successes to the outsider’s point of view were actually a hollow reminder to John of something John didn’t have in his life. What the hell that could have been, Wolf had no idea.
Wolf thought about a bitter Colorado mountain winter day in middle school when the school bully, Billy Tranchen, and his three buddies stole John’s winter hat. John had slogged all the way home on foot that day, came in the house, grabbed a hat, went to Billy’s house, knocked on the door, asked his mother for Billy, then beat the crap out of him right there in front of his own mother, took the hat back, and left.
Wolf had marveled at that story for years to come, and never even spoke about it with him all but one time. John told him, “The guy had it coming.” And that was that. John Wolf was a tough, stubborn, hard nosed son-of-a-bitch, just like himself, and just like their dad.
Wolf laughed and shook his head, returning to the present moment.
“Look, David,” she said. “I am sorry. I know it must be so difficult. I can’t imagine having to go through this with one of my brothers. If you say he didn’t kill himself and didn’t do drugs, and he was killed … then I believe you. But, we must have some indisputable evidence to change the minds of those who have already opened and shut this case.”
He nodded, “Let’s just go talk to this Matthew guy and see what we can find out.”
Chapter 20
The Merate Observatory was three buildings and two telescope domes sitting on a small hill. Tall spindly pines and an iron fence topped with Roman spearheads lined the entire perimeter, which looked to be about five or six acres in area. Dense foliage of all types filled in the property surrounding the structures within.
The European Union and Italian flag hung limp from the pole next to the wrought iron gate. Lia jerked off the main road in front of a slow approaching truck and leaned out the window to push the button in one move. A small sign said read, “Osservatorio Astronomico Di Brera - European Astronomical Society.”
“Pronto?” A male voice crackled through the speaker.
“Caribinieri, possono parlare per un minuto con il dirretore di l’osservatorio?”
“Si, ehh, parla inglese?”
“Yes, I do,” Lia answered.
“Please pull up to the guest parking lot, and I will meet you outside.” The metallic sounding voice said in a well-mannered English accent.
Two lights flashed yellow as the gate swung jerkily open to the inside. Lia waited patiently, then shot through with precise timing to miss the side view mirrors with an inch to spare.
They parked and got out. Wolf had been studying the foliage of the area, and could only come to the conclusion that nature looked confused. There were palm trees, pine trees with long drooping limbs, stiff spiked trees with red flowers that looked like fruit, large leaved prehistoric looking bushes, pine trees you might see in Colorado, and a variety of exotic looking foliage he’d never seen. The lawn was lush green, full of grasses and thick stemmed wild flowers with tiny yellow and blue blossoms, and at least a foot tall. One thing was certain, this area got a lot of rain. He noted the haze in the warm, moist air.
The surrounding area seemed densely populated—corn fields lined with dense pockets of apartment buildings and villas of all sizes, much like the entire whole of northern Italy he’d seen so far. Definitely not the best location for observing stars.
A tall, lanky man with thick glasses approached with clicking shoes. He was disheveled looking—pants too tight, too high, and one side of his collared golf shirt tucked in. It looked like he just finished using the bathroom and re-dressed in haste.
Wolf hoped that wasn’t the case as they shook hands.
“Hello, I’m Stephen Wembly,” he said with precise Queen’s English and a squint-eyed smile. “I’m the director of the observatory. What may I have the honor of helping you with today?”
Lia stepped forward and offered her hand. “Hello. We are looking for an astronomer, Matthew Rosenwald, who we understand works here.”
“Oh, yes. Well, he isn’t here. I haven’t seen him all week.”
“Do you mean, he hasn’t been to work all week?” Wolf asked. “Or you just work at different times?”
“I mean he hasn’t been in at all.” Deep lines formed on Wembly’s forehead. “Quite frankly, I was wondering if something dreadful had occurred … has something … dreadful occurred? Oh my. Is that why you’re here?”
“We just want to talk with him,” Lia said.
“Well, we can go inside and I could get his phone number for you if you like?” Wembly said. “He hasn’t been answering for me.”
…
“This is the Zeiss one meter telescope, installed in 1926.” They entered the large dome-ceilinged room. “Light pollution for this area is considerable nowadays, but the telescope is still used for University of Milan students on clear nights. Otherwise the observatory complex is now a leader in x-ray optics development, and ground-based gamma-ray astronomy.”
The telescope was painted off white and lime green, the paint scheme of a Colorado nineteen fifties house.
Wembly stood beaming at the telescope for a few seconds, then seemed to snap out of his tour guide mode. “Ah, yes, sorry. This way please. I need to get my cell phone from my office.”
They followed closely behind Wembly. The rest of the building they were in was not large by any means outside of the main telescope dome room. Wolf counted five offices through the hall, some with open doors, and all with nametags that read like an international phone book. Chang. Izhutin. Rosenwald. Egger. Vlad. Wembly had an office at the end of the hall and around a corner. Wolf looked over his shoulder as they walked onward. There looked to be a similar wing in the opposite direction.
Lia got the number from Wembly and called Matthew Rosenwald.
“Dr. Rosenwald is our one and only representative from the southern hemisphere here at the observatory,” Wembly told Wolf, rocking on his heels.
Wolf heard movement from the Vlad office and glanced in that direction. The scientist was kicking the rubber doorstop with his heel, trying to shut his door.
Lia pointed to her phone with the universal no luck happening with this call facial expression, and Wembly read it.
“Vlad! These two are looking for Dr. Rosenwald. I was telling them about how he hasn’t shown up in the last few days.” Wembly turned to Wolf. “This is Dr. Vlad. He knows Dr. Rosenwald on a more personal basis.”
“Uhh, yes, I do not know where he is.” Vlad’s voice was raspy, like he hadn’t used it in a day or two. He cleared his throat for a few seconds.
Vlad was a short, large, and sweaty individual. His jet-black facial hair was sporadic, denser on the neck, and he had not shaved recently. Whether or not he had showered within the last week was a toss-up. His dark gray shirt had darker still finger-sized grease stains, the result of eating potato chips from the bag splayed open on his desk and wiping off the residue by brushing his hands down the front of his shirt. Four haphazardly placed and partially crushed Coke Lite cans cluttered the desktop. He wore dirty jeans and flip-flops. A hand wasn’t offered as introduction, and Wolf thanked Jesus for that.
“Have you talked to him this week at all?” Wolf asked.
“No, I have not,” he said as he shook his head.
His accent sounded similar to Cristina’s. Romanian? Eastern European?
Vlad’s shifty eyes darted between Wolf’s clothing, the wall behind him, and Director Wembly. “I have not spoken to him all week.” His glance rested on Wolf’s eyes for a split second before jumping to the wall behind him a
gain.
“So, you know Dr. Rosenwald on a personal basis? Do you guys spend a lot of time with each other?”
“We have gone to have a beer or two after work a few times before,” said Vlad.
“Have you met my brother before? His name is John Wolf?”
“Oh yes, I have.” Vlad’s voice was suddenly quiet.
“How did you meet him?”
“I believe he has, eh, come out with Matthew with us for a beer after work a time or two.” Vlad’s forehead was glistening with sweat. “Why do you ask?”
“I’m asking because my brother was killed this weekend, and I’m looking for Matthew for some answers.”
Vlad’s eyebrows shot up, “Oh, that’s terrible. I …”
Wolf waited. “You what?”
“I, I … that’s terrible. What happened?” He looked Wolf in the eye, then wiped his forehead with the palm of his hand.
“He was killed in his apartment, and someone is trying to make it look like suicide.”
“Oh, wow …” Vlad looked down, shaking his head, which slid a bead of sweat off his nose onto the terrazzo floor. “That’s terrible. And you think Matthew has something to do with it?”
“That’s what we’re checking. Was there a particular bar you guys went to for beers?” Wolf asked.
“Yeah, well, no,” his face flushed red and his eyebrows rose for a split second.
“Did you guys ever used to go to …,” he fished the receipt out of his pocket, “The Albastru Pub?”
Wolf saw Lia turn to Wolf out the corner of his eye.
“Uh, yeah. We’ve been there before,” Vlad said.
“What were you doing Friday night?” Wolf put the receipt back in his jeans pocket.
“I was working in the office, actually. I was here quite late on Friday night.”
“You weren’t with them at the pub getting a beer that night?”
“What? No.” He was excited now. “I was at work all night. I had a lot of work to catch up on.”
Wolf paused for a few seconds and stared at the scientist. “Okay, thanks, Dr. Vlad. And you didn’t see Matthew or my brother at all this weekend?”
He shook his head, “No, I’m sorry. I haven’t.”
“So what do you do here? Are you an astronomer as well?”
“Me? I, uh, I work for the European Astronomical Council, and I am overseeing the re-furbishing of the Zeiss telescope currently housed in this facility.”
“Vlad is an important man in the world of astronomical equipment, Mr. Wolf,” Wembly said. “In any given month, a lot of astronomical equipment is exchanged between countries and continents, and Dr. Vlad has become the top man for the European Astronomical Confederation to oversee its logistics. We are lucky to have him here.” Wembly wore a proud expression.
Vlad nodded with closed eyes and held up his hand. As if Vlad was a movie star and Wembly was a raving fan.
Wolf nodded back to Vlad. “Where are you from?”
“I’m from Romania.”
“What part?”
“Cluj.”
“And what about Dr. Rosenwald? What does he do here?”
“He works on our gamma-ray astronomy team,” Wembly answered behind them, “with Dr. Chang there.” He pointed toward the center of the building.
“Okay. Mr. Wembly —”
“Doctor Wembly … never mind, sorry, it doesn’t matter.” He shook his head and squinted his eyes in apology.
“Dr. Wembly,” Wolf corrected, “how did he get to work? By car?”
“Yes, he drove a car.”
“And what is the make, model, and color of it?”
“It’s a, um … oh, you know better than I, Dr. Vlad. What did he drive?” Wembly asked.
Vlad was pulled from deep thought. “He drives a blue Fiat Panda.”
Wolf looked back to Dr. Wembly, “Do you mind if we question Dr. Chang? And can we please have Dr. Rosenwald’s address? Do you have that on file?”
“Yes, I believe I do. Let me fetch it for you.”
“Thanks, Dr. Vlad. We’ll be in touch if we need anything else.”
Vlad stuck out his hand to shake, and Wolf walked out the door.
Dr. Chang was three doors down the hall in his office, cradling a teacup with both hands, looking intently at his computer screen.
“Dr. Chang?” Wolf knocked on the open door.
“Yes?” Dr. Chang looked up through steamy glasses.
“You work with Mathew Rosenwald, correct?”
“Yes.” He put down his cup and turned to them.
“Have you seen him or heard from him in the last few days?” Lia asked.
“No, I have not.”
“Is that usual?” Wolf asked. “Not to hear from him for days?”
Chang furrowed his brow and stood, crossing his arms. He wore a white lab coat unbuttoned and draped over his blue t-shirt and tight jeans. He wore large Buddy Holly style glasses that looked way too big for his face, and had tall spiky hair. “No, it is not usual. We usually keep in touch, and he has missed some important milestones for our work earlier this week, in fact.”
“And what is that work exactly?” Wolf asked.
“We were, uh,” he hesitated.
Wolf didn’t blink. “What’s the matter?”
“Well, I don’t know how to explain it, other than in a way that won’t make sense to you, I’m sure.”
“Try me.”
“We … we were shaping x-ray beams via deformable mirrors. We have been analytically computing the required mirror profile for a series of telescopes.”
Wolf looked blankly at Dr. Chang. “Do you have a relationship with Dr. Rosenwald outside the work place?”
“No. Not at all, actually,” he said pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose, as if realizing it for the first time.
“Were you with him at the bar this weekend getting beers? Or did you see him this weekend?”
“No. Like I said, I didn’t ever socialize with Dr. Rosenwald outside of work.” He looked to Lia and Dr. Wembly. “What’s this all about?”
“Never mind. Thanks for your time Dr. Chang. If you hear from him, can you please call this number?” Wolf looked to Lia, and she gave a phone number.
They said goodbye to Dr. Wembly and left mid morning with Dr. Rosenwald’s address in hand.
Chapter 21
“What was that all about with Dr. Chang?” She revved the RPMs to pass two trucks. “Why were you pressing him about his work?”
“I wanted to ask him that question before asking him about Dr. Rosenwald … to see his reactions. He wasn’t hiding anything. Not like Dr. Vlad was. That guy was a comical liar. I’m surprised he didn’t start dry-heaving right in front of us.”
“Yeah. He was acting strange.” She eyed him. “And, where did you get that receipt?”
“I picked it up at the morgue.”
She turned to him with a wide-eyed glare. “You took that when you pretended to almost pass out!”
“I wasn’t pretending. I almost passed out.”
…
M. Rosenwald and a number were written on a call box that hung outside the wrought iron gate. Lia pushed the button and waited.
“No answer.” Wolf smacked a mosquito on his neck.
The apartment building was a short drive north of the observatory, along the same wide river that dumped out of Lake Como—which meant it was brutally muggy. Thick foliage covered every nook and cranny of the surrounding area, all the way to the water. The building seemed to pop up from underneath the greenery. It was large, containing thirty or more apartments.
“I don’t think he is home,” Lia said.
Wolf bent forward. “Is there a building manager button?” He waged war on two more mosquitoes hovering around his ears.
“I don’t see one.” She shrugged.
“Okay, you do the talking.” Wolf pushed five buttons in quick succession.
She put her hands on her s
lender hips and gave Wolf a dirty look.
“Pronto?”
“Pronto?” Two people answered almost simultaneously.
“Buon giorno. Siamo i Caribinieri. Lasciateci entrare?”
The gate buzzed and clicked open, then buzzed again.
“Okay, now let’s go get a closer look.” Wolf pushed through the gate.
“Is this how they do it in Colorado?”
“Nope. We don’t have fences like this where I come from.”
They walked through the courtyard, up a series of steps outside, and pulled open a large door into the apartment building. The air was steamy inside, and smelled of simmering tomato sauce and searing meat. Wolf swallowed so he wouldn’t drool.
They climbed the stairs to Dr. Rosenwald’s floor and ran into a concerned looking old woman poking her head out the door.
She and Lia had a brief conversation.
“What did she say?”
“She hasn’t seen him.”
They continued down the hall and stopped at Rosenwald’s door. Wolf knocked four times against the thick wood door. The sound echoed through the marble encased hallway they stood in. There was no response from inside, no sounds at all.
“Would you object to me picking this lock?” Wolf raised an eyebrow.
“I … could you do that?”
“I could. They don’t teach that here in your military?”
“I don’t remember learning that skill, no.” She smirked. “Well, in Italy, we do not need a warrant for drugs to search a person’s property. Since your brother had drugs in his system on the night of his death, and he was with this person on the night of his death … then, I don’t see any problem with us entering this apartment on suspicion of drugs.”
“Okay, good. I’m going to need some things. I need something that is long and thin and made of metal, and I haven’t seen a lock like this in my life. I say, let’s go to the old lady’s apartment and see what we can get there.” He turned to walk down the hallway.
Lia reached down and turned the doorknob. With a soft click the door creaked open to the inside.